Book 1: The Grail Knights
by Du Lac
Summary: Harry has a choice at the start of his first year. The consequences of that choice will be the beginning of an adventure no one could forsee. It turns out that the world doesn't just consist of humans and their daily lives, Voldemort is rising. Contains OCs, Good!Dursleys and more.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, J.K. Rowling does and she does a far better job of maintaining the world she created than I do.**

**A/N Hi, I'm starting a Harry Potter story for those who still enjoy them as much as I do. I do this as a writing exercise mostly, I have no illusions about being some great writer but still I find it fun and I'd like to get better. Ahem...this story starts in year 1 and will chronicle Harry's rise among the weird the strange and the unfathomable. Also the Durleys are less neglectful in this and people might generally be more grey than usual. There are some differing elements in this story and I hope you'll enjoy it. Also I am desperatly looking for a beta as I do not english very well, at the very least accent wise. Which is why Hagrid speaks so jarringly normal.**

**With that let's get on with it.**

You're a...!

"You're a wizard Harry!" The huge figure standing inside the creaking hovel boomed. Harry blinked, feeling his glasses slide slightly down his nose. Now that he got a better look at the bushy bearded giant he realized the man didn't radiate any animosity towards him, rather a joyful expectancy.

He rose from behind the small overturned table and stepped past the Dursleys. "I'm a wizard?" He tried not to sound too hopeful.

"Get back here boy!" Uncle Vernon's hand reached for Harry's sleeve but he halted when the giant shot him a look. His face turned an eerie purple-red colour and his hand dropped back to his side. Harry looked between the two and he felt a sort of elation as he realized this was someone Vernon didn't have power over. He stepped towards the giant hesitantly, still guarded because when was the last time anything ever went right for Harry Potter?

The giant grinned and spread his arms. "You didn't get the letters Harry? You're old enough to go to Hogwarts now, everyone is looking forward to it." He scratched his bushy beard and coughed. "Well I say everyone…" he trailed off when he saw Harry's clueless look and shot an inquisitive look at the boy. "You...did get the letters didn't you? I mean you never signed them but Dumbledore just assumed the memories might be too much for you."

When Harry just stared at him, dumbfounded he looked past the boy at the cowering Dursleys. "You didn't tell him...did you?" Uncle Vernon, finding his...courage, pride or indignation at being treated as an inferior, jabbed a finger in the direction of the giant man. "You have no right!" he barked. "You left him on our doorstep for us to raise and I will not have him dabbling in…" here he chanced a glance at his shivering wife, her eyes firmly on the floor and her mouth slightly agape obviously trying to shut out anything what was happening at that moment. Vernon deflated slightly, his anger replaced by worry at his wife's condition. "We were to raise him...you lot never so much as lifted a finger!"

The strangely garbed giant reeled back as if slapped. "Well...I, that is...Dumbledore thought it better for him to grow up among family…" His voice halted slightly, his eyes turning towards the boy who looked so utterly lost in his too large clothes that hung off his thin frame. He smiled, his friendly eyes mirrored in the boy's beaten up spectacles. "You can come back to the wizarding world now Harry, you'll be treated as a hero! It's because of you we've had these peaceful years."

Vernon looked ready to say something but the giant gripped his strange looking umbrella and the large man fell back, bristling, next to his wife and son. Harry, who was still merely looking at the giant, overwhelmed by what the man was telling him was startled out of his reverie when he heard the low chiming of a bell. The giant's brow furrowed and he reached into his pocket, drawing out something that looked like a pocket watch with too many hands. It was rotating startlingly fast and Harry thought he could see his name on there, along with the names of the Dursleys and someone called Hagrid. He squinted as the giant cursed and read another name, fast approaching the hands that were together. "Marco." He mouthed.

Vernon's head rose sharply when he heard Harry say the name, again his mouth opened to say something but just then the giant, something in Harry's mind clicked and knew; Hagrid, whirled on the opened door and shouted "Stupefy!" There was the sound of clinking outside and smoke billowed into the shack. Loud coughing could be heard and someone stumbled into the shack.

Harry's eyes went wide, the figure was dressed like a knight straight out of a fairytale. He wore armour that looked, although dented, well-cared for and somehow managed to look slightly...familiar. Harry wondered why the thought had popped into his head, his scar burned for a second and suddenly he was looking at a painting of a man with a shock of red hair and a disarming smile wearing the same sort of armour.

He felt his legs give out beneath him but just as suddenly strong hands helped steady him, hands covered in mail gauntlets. His eyes stopped their spinning and he looked into the eyes of a young man, he seemed to be just out of his teens, with longish black hair tied in a ponytail. The man steadied him, then curled his hand into a fist and coughed as he turned to Hagrid. Harry could see him flash a grin. "You keep getting better and better Hagrid. Is Dumbledore still training you then?"

The giant, Hagrid, snorted and held out his umbrella threateningly. "You'll lay no hand on Harry!" He jabbed the umbrella in the other man's direction. Harry took a moment to study him he wasn't very big Harry realized, maybe just pushing six feet, but he somehow managed to look...tall. Maybe it was the armour. The man's brown eyes regarded the giant calmly and suddenly Harry realized why. Sure Hagrid had his magic umbrella but the strange newcomer had a large sword strapped to his back, coupled with a shield that seemed too heavy to lift. Broad he was as well, his relaxed stance somehow making him seem lanky where he was anything but. That was when the man half-turned his head to look at him and...winked and Harry, feeling slightly foolish for staring merely grinned back.

The armoured man held his hands up in a placating manner. "I've no wish to anger you Hagrid, I just came because the boy is old enough to take up his grandfather's blade now. But where are my manners…" He turned and for a moment Harry was certain that the man was going to talk to him but instead the man dropped to a knee in front of Uncle Vernon and bowed his head. "Grandmaster Dursley, it's...an honour to finally meet you. The Order is a darker place for you having left it." Harry blinked and looked at Uncle Vernon, who had squared his shoulders and looked a lot more broad than fat now and...old somehow like seeing the man kneeling in front of him had aged him years.

Vernon placed his hand on the young man's shoulders. "Rise Marco, or should I say Ser Marco now? I'll not have a du Lac kneel to me. You have your father's bearing and your mother's eyes." The young man flashed a grin and rose, his eyes on the eldest Dursley. "I'm glad to see time hasn't waned your honour Grandmaster." Vernon winced. "I rescinded that title the day I left." His eyes darted to aunt Petunia before returning to the knight in front of him. "Why did they send a du Lac to do recruitment? Couldn't one of the lesser knights have done?"

The knight shrugged. "There's not a lot of the old order left, the Morrighanan has weeded out a lot of the more...Grail minded of us. But I shouldn't bother you with this." He shook his head. "The truth is I got sent because they expected Dumbledore to send someone like Hagrid."Here he looked at the tall, silent giant. "You were never going to inform him of the fact that he has a choice, were you?" He said. Hagrid blushed to the roots of his beard and mumbled. "Dumbledore said they would have wanted it that way…" The knight nodded.

For the first time during the whole interaction Harry found his voice. "Ehm...I'm sorry, what's this all about why are you talking to Uncle Vernon that way, sir?"

The knight blinked and looked at Vernon who merely shrugged and said "I left everything behind, including that knowledge. I promised and a Dursley doesn't break his promise." His voice seemed to reverberate with some inner strength as he spoke the last part. The knight grinned again and turned to Harry, kneeling so he was of a height with the boy and looked into his eyes.

"Harry Potter, my name is Marco du Lac. Ser Marco du Lac, if the name doesn't ring a bell I'm afraid you'll be hearing a lot of boring stories about my ancestors if you decide to come with me. I'm here because I was sent by an Order within the Knights Templar, the Grail Knights to tell you that we seek to recruit you."

Harry blinked and Marco grinned. "You're a Templar Harry."


	2. Chapter 2

2 Months later:

Harry woke up in the Gryffindor dorm room, his head swimming as always before he truly woke up. He yawned and tried to recall the dream he'd had, with a start he realised it had been the same dream that had haunted him the past few weeks, the one where he'd made his decision to go with Hagrid and become a wizard instead of following the du Lac boy and becoming a templar.

He fell back on his mattress and sighed. Two months ago the thought of going with the hulking giant instead of the broad knight had seemed as clear as day. If you really thought about it though...Well at least he'd made quick friends here, he smiled as he looked over at the other bunk where Ron was snoring, mouth open as he dreamed about either eating cake or winning an important Quidditch match.

Harry could feel the guilt wash over him again as he remembered how Marco's face had fallen when Harry told him he'd be going with Hagrid. Vernon had cursed him and the mage's blood his father had brought into the family. This seemed to surprise du Lac and the young man had stepped between Harry and Vernon when the older man tried to take a swing at him. Hagrid had bellowed a laugh and lifted his strange umbrella, preparing to do something to Uncle Vernon. The du Lac boy had grabbed the umbrella's tip in a quick movement and all that happened was that his hand started smoking.

Marco du Lac had stayed quiet for a moment, looking between the two parties and sighing. He'd turned to Hagrid. "You'd better take him and go." With those words he turned back to the Dursleys but not before winking at Harry and grinning. "See you soon, Lord Potter." Hagrid had lifted him bodily on the strange motorcycle and off they went on their crazy adventure.

And crazy it had been, Harry decided meeting Draco in Daigon Alley and getting his wand. Meeting Ron and Hermione on the train that left from an unknown platform. Getting sorted, the voice of the Hat still resounded in his mind. "Hmmm, might be a fit for Slytherin." 'Please,' he'd begged the Hat with his mind, 'anywhere but Slytherin!' The hat harumphed a moment, telling him that some of the most ambitious and successful wizards had been in Slytherin. But after a moment of indecision it loudly proclaimed to have sorted Harry in "GRYFFINDOR!"

He remembered flying, his first time on a broom and grabbing Neville's rememberall out of the air. He remembered the Hufflepuff headgirl, Tonks she hated her first name, coming to talk to him a few times. The young woman had heard he'd been approached by the Templars and turned them down. She'd grinned at that and thanked him, as the Templars actively hunted Metamorphagi down in the previous centuries and had caused a lot of them to hide their abilities. She'd sadly stated she was one of the last ones alive. But then she brightened up and told Harry that there'd been a Templar in Hogsmeade ever since he'd come to school. Wizards had taken bets as to whom could get him to leave first. She'd not dared approach herself yet but apparently people had cast light hexes and curses on him to deter him from lurking in the open too much.

He'd asked her why the Templar was in Hogsmeade at all. She'd chuckled and brushed her pink hair behind her ear. "Why he's obviously come to try and change your mind after du Lac failed so horribly." This seemed to give her even greater merriment. When Hermione had asked why she'd explained that the du Lac's traced their line directly to one of the Grail Knights. And the Grail Knights had been the fiercest fighters of wizards in general and Methamorphagi in particular. It tickled her pink, here she turned her hair and skin the brightest possible shade of pink she could think of, that one of the greats hadn't been able to snatch the-boy-who-lived from his rightful path.

The-boy-who-lived. That's who he was now. Everywhere young witches and wizards looked at him with big round eyes. He heard the whispers and felt them bouncing around in his brain, "There's the boy who defeated Voldemort when he was just a baby!" And the whispers hurt, just like the silent adoration from Ron's side hurt. These people looked at him as some sort of savior when he hadn't the faintest what he could have done to deserve that kind of praise.

At least he had Hermione. She'd read up on him, of course she read up on everything, but that didn't seem to make him any bigger in her eyes. She treated him as friend, they'd row and make up and talk all the way into the night. It had been crazy. Amazing to have a real friend. Ron was great as well, but somehow Hermione was on his mind the most.

Suddenly he was jerked truly awake by the sound of Headmaster Dumbledore's voice resounding through the whole of Hogwart's. "All students are hereby cordially ordered to go to the Great Hall and prepare for an announcement." Harry shot out of bed and into his robes as next to him Ron shot awake and groaned about wanting just a few more minutes. He and Ron walked into the Common Room to meet Hermione and together they headed to the Great Hall.

Once there and in their seats they looked at the head table where all teachers were sat. Snape, as always, looked like he'd swallowed a lemon but for some reason Professors McGonagall seemed to be sharing his distaste for whatever was going to happen. Harry could feel the lump start to form in his throat. Something was definitely up.

That's when Dumbledore stood up and raised his hands in the air, calling for silence. The whole room quieted, even the rebellious Twins were quiet. Dumbledore took a bite of a peach that was laid out on his plate and swallowed it with great care, looking at it studiously. "Professor Binns has been retired." he said at length.

The whole of the Great Hall erupted in cheers as Dumbledore kept talking and Harry strained to hear him. "Offering an open palm...New paths to be walked...Great personal harm…" were the only bits of information he managed to snatch up. Casting a glance at Hermione next to him showed him she fared no better. That's when his eyes fell on the Hufflepuff table, Tonks had disappeared and in her place was someone as white as a sheet, with a shock of white hair and eyes of blazing fire. She was turned to the doors of the Great Hall. Harry followed her gaze in the silencing room.

Stood between the doors, holding them open and looking as if he's swam the great lake towards Hogwarts was a man in a leather cape. He stepped into the silence of the Great Hall with his head held high, the only sound was the clinking of his sword against his belt. Harry realized with a start who the man was, he was just wearing a lot less armour.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "My dear students, faculty members, meet your new History of Magic teacher...Marco du Lac."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer:**_ Nothing here is owned by me, I am a poor person :(

**A/N : Sorry for the long silence, things didn't go so well for me but I'm back now and am going to try and keep to a Sunday, Wednesday, Friday update schedule. So I hope you guys can forgive me my absence. Now without further ado...**

Chapter 3

The whole of the great hall erupted into a clamor. Harry's eyes were bouncing between Tonks and the du Lac boy like he was watching a tennis match. A few of the more senior students rose from their seats and started for their wands. It was only when Dumbledore's voice broke through the clamor that they slid back into their seats, their faces bunched up with distaste and their hands hovering near their wands still.

During all this, du Lac was walking through the Hall towards the faculty table when a howl of rage and torment went up from the Hufflepuff table. Marco turned towards the sound and his shoulders sagged as he noticed the furious headgirl, her hair a violent red as her hands elongated into claws climb over the table as her classmates desperately dove out of the way.

Harry gasped for breath as he saw Tonks take on the form of a furious bear. Even the shouts of Dumbledore and Professor Sprout couldn't deter her as she dove for the Templar.

And that's when Harry got to see why Templars had been the ones to hunt the Methamorphagi to extinction and not the other way around. Because as her clawed arm hit the Templar and lifted him bodily it seemed to shimmer and turned back into the arm of a girl, the Templar's weight causing her arm to buckle and his feet to touch the ground again. Marco ducked under her next strike and kept dodging as Tonks in her bear form kept striking out at him. Slytherins were cheering loudly from their table and Snape had the smallest of smiles on his otherwise passive face. Tables in the centre of the Great Hall got overturned and the silverware scattered over the floor.

Harry felt he had to do something, anything, surprised as he noticed that none of the faculty were actually doing anything to stop Tonks trying to take the new teacher's head off. He tried to rise from his seat but felt himself being pulled back down by Hermione. He cast her an incredulous look but her eyes were locked on the fight that was taking place in the middle of the hall. He cast a helpless look at Ron but saw his mate fight the urge to cheer with the Slytherins.

That's when Tonks' claw hit Marco in the centre of the chest, he grabbed her wrist as it turned back into a human one and held it, even as she futilely punched at his leather breastplate. Her other claw came around and struck him in the cheek, leaving a bloody claw gash right beneath his eye. But before Harry's eyes the bear started to become Tonks again, she grew about an inch taller than he remembered her and her short pink hair turned long and black. She looked very much like a lost teen for a second as she noticed herself in the polished silverware that

had dropped to the ground.

She yelped and tried to tear herself from the Templar as she realised everyone could see how she really looked. Harry looked around and noticed that everyone was too busy with themselves and their hate for the Templars to have realized Tonks' change yet. In a smooth movement Marco took off his cape and curled it around Tonks, throwing up the hood so her face and body were well obscured from everyone. Harry saw him adjust her hood and give the Metamorph a pained look before saying something in a low tone.

Tonks stood rigid for a moment, before rearing her hand back and striking the Templar on his wounded cheek with an open palm. The resounding crack of her slap echoed through the Great Hall and du Lac's face jerked hard to the side. His hands dropped from the side of her borrowed cloak and she bolted out of the Great Hall, her sobbing wrenching at Harry's heart.

Harry felt Hermione's hand leave his shoulder and he cast her a look. "If you'd stepped in this would have become about your ties to the Templars." She hissed. "Don't you think Snape would have a field day with that?"

He glared at her for a moment before realizing the truth of her statement. His eyes slid back towards the figure in the center of the Great Hall. The Templar's face was drawn and his shoulders sagged. He turned towards the table of tutors and gave Dumbledore a pointed look. "You could have told them I am no longer a Templar…"

Dumbledore rose from his seat and the room quieted, his twinkling eyes locked on the ex?-Templar. "Your adequate handling of an enraged Metamorph begs to differ my boy." Harry started, did he just hear the Headmaster call one of his staff a boy?

The young man in question cast a dark look to his side and muttered something. "I'm sorry my lad but you'll have to speak up, my hearing isn't what it used to be." Dumbledore cupped his hand behind his ear for added effect and Snape's smile grew. A blush rose on the young man's cheeks and he spoke, loud enough for the whole of the Hall to hear, "We can't help what we are."

"Ah, but that has never deterred your kind before has it, Professor du Lac?" Harry saw the Templar's hands ball into fists at his side and when he next spoke his voice shook a little. "I am not disputing the truth of that statement however I am more concerned with the lady's welfare. Would it be too much to ask that you sent someone to check up on her before we continue."

Dumbledore clapped his hands. "Ah if only your ancestors had been so concerned by the fate of the Metamorphagi we wouldn't have to send Madame Sprout away from the table." The Headmaster cast a quick look towards the Head of House Hufflepuff and she nodded, jumping off her seat and making for the large double doors of the Great Hall. As she passed the ex-Templar Harry saw her give him a watery smile and he leaned in and whispered a few words to her to which she gave a curt nod.

When Professor Sprout had left all eyes once again turned to du Lac as he stood in the center of the Great Hall, blood dripping down his cheek. "As you may have realized allowing you to stay on the premises Professor du Lac, would be inadvisable. You have rooms in Hogsmeade I am sure?" Dumbledore sounded nothing but concerned and sincere but Harry couldn't help but feel that the man wasn't being entirely truthful.

"You know I don't Headmaster." Marco ground out from between his teeth. "Ah, what a shame...there is nothing for it but asking you to set up camp in the Forbidden Woods for now Hagrid can show you a safe spot. Hagrid?" The Headmaster looked at the groundskeeper who jumped from his seat and started towards the ex-Templar. Marco du Lac gave a curt nod and made to follow Hagrid. Harry could hear the whispers from the other tables and imagined that so did Marco.

"Dumbledore should have allowed Tonks to rip him in two."

"Did you see that he got hurt against her, oh if she just struck a little lower."

"Haha, Dumbledore sure put that Templar in his place."

The Headmaster once again called for silence as Marco du Lac left the Great Hall, his large form dwarfed by Hagrid. "I do hope you all will show our new professor as much regard as I would." His twinkling eyes took in everyone, resting for a moment on Harry. "For now all students are dismissed. Gryffindor will have the honor of getting the first classes in History of Magic this week." He smiled benignly at the assembled students and faculty before heading out towards the grand doors, followed slowly by the rest of the room as the students followed their Heads of House in a daze. The Hufflepuffs followed their prefects in silence.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked at the back of their group and Ron chuckled. "I can't believe how Tonks went into that Templar. She nearly did him in, did you see that?" Hermione bristled. "She was in pain Ron! And can you believe the Headmaster Harry, he basically sent our new History of Magic teacher to his death!" When Harry gave her a nonplussed look she huffed and explained. "The Forbidden Forest is filled with all sorts of magical creatures. Remulus Dorran's Templars through the Ages explains how Templars have basically turned nearly all magically attuned creatures against them by hunting them to near extinction. Only the intervention of wizards saved the magical creature population. He'll have to sleep with one eye open out there if they find him out."

Harry started. "Surely Dumbledore wouldn't knowingly send a teacher to their death?" Ron, who had been mocking Hermione behind her back, scoffed and spoke up. "If I was the Headmaster I would have done the same, how dare they send a du Lac in an attempt to 'reach out to us'." When Hermione cast him an indignant look he snorted. "Don't give me that look Granger, you only just came looking in this world. You don't know about our history."

Hermione sniffed and headed up the stairs, giving the portrait a quick 'Gumdrops' before heading inside and plopping down on a chair. "If you lot have your way, I'll never be able to find out because our teacher will have been mauled by creatures that should have been kept away from him." Ron rolled his eyes and headed up the stairs to the boy's dorm, looking behind him to see if Harry followed. "I'll be up in a minute mate." spoke the Boy-Who-Lived to which Ron shrugged before heading towards the sleeping quarters.

"You alright Hermione?" He tried and saw that the brunette was desperately trying to look unaffected. "Ron's a prat! He knows how I feel about being...well...Muggleborn." She sighed. "I can't see why you're friends with him. He's loud and obnoxious and tries to use you to get a better standing among the others." Harry felt his ears glow red. "Hermione!"

She had the sense to look contrite but huffed. "I wonder how Tonks is doing…She thinks everyone saw her true self." Harry looked at her. "You think they didn't?"

"They were too busy glaring at professor du Lac and he threw his cloak around her quick enough, I think it was only a few of us at the Gryffindor table that got a look."

Harry looked into the softly crackling fireplace. "She really went at him though, do you think she'll be expelled?"

Hermione scoffed. "With the way the Headmaster was acting? Not likely. I didn't realize the rift between the Templars and the wizards was that deep…"

Harry wished he knew how Tonks was doing at that moment there was a tapping at the common room window. He looked up and saw "Hedwig!" he ran toward the window and opened it, letting his owl in. She was carrying a package that she dropped in front of Harry. He scratched the top of her head fondly and looked at the package. "What's this girl?" She nipped at his finger and shot up to perch above the fireplace.

Hermione looked just as interested as he was and urged him to open the package, when he did a cloak fell out. He looked at it, surprised but happy to finally get a present. He threw it around his body and Hermione gasped as she saw the lower half of The-Boy-Who-Lived disappear. Harry looked at her, then down at his body and back at her and grinned. "I think we should pay Tonks a visit." Hermione managed to shake of her confusion and looked at Harry. "And how do you think we should do that? We have no way of knowing where the Hufflepuff common room is!"

"Maybe we…"

"...can be of help."

**A/N Who might these mysterious benefactors be D: Find out (if you can't guess already) next Wednesday.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Well here it is as promised. I made it before the end of Wednesday, yay! I hope you like this chapter and I also hope that you can forgive any mistakes in tenses and words I make. I'm learning as I go. **

**Disclaimer: Still not mine. All created by the great J.K. Rowling**

Harry and Hermione jumped at the voices that sounded behind them. Turning Harry noticed the Weasley twins matching grins on their faces. The Weasley twins were holding some sort of cloth map in front of them and as Harry tried to get a look at it George spoke some words and the lines on the map disappeared. He cast a questioning look aat them and Fred´s grin grew even wider.

"This is our little up-to-no-good map. It's a veritable…"

"...work of art." George finished.

"Why would you two help us get to Tonks?" Hermione asked, suspiciously. "You just heard me call your brother a prat."

"Well one…"

"...he is, and two…"

"...Tonks is in our year and she went up against a Templar..."

"...we want to know she is alright."

Hermione hmphed and gave the twins a scrutinizing look. Fred quailed under her look and George turned pale. Fred held up his hands and George spoke. "Alright, alright, we also want a try at that invisibility cloak you have there sometime. Imagine the pranks we can pull with that!"

Harry, who had taken off the cloak held it tight against his body for some reason reluctant to part with it even for a moment. The twins noticed his look and tried to reassure him. "Oh it doesn't have to be today…"

"...or even tomorrow!"

"We just want a chance…"

"...to use it one day."

Harry cast Hermione a look and she shrugged. "If it gets us to Tonks, I don't see why not. They'll prank people either way, best to stay on their good side."

The twins bowed at Hermione in unison. "The lady speaketh the truth." They chorused.

Harry sighed and acquiesced, the twins turned on their heels and motioned for the other two to follow them. "It might be…"

"...best if you remained invisible." The twins said.

Harry held out the cloak so Hermione could crawl under it, which she did though she kept her head down for some reason that Harry couldn't fathom. When they were pressed together under the cloak, her head pressed against his he could feel the heat radiating off her face. "Are you feeling alright Hermione?" Harry asked and she just nodded so he let it go.

They followed the twins as they walked through the halls, bent over the strange map they had drawn to help them keep the right direction. Twice they had to duck aside as muttering teachers passed them. Once, Flitwick and Quirrell nearly bowled the twins over and Hermione and Harry had to duck aside to keep from being discovered.

"What are you doing out so late boys?" Flitwick asked, a friendly smile on his face.

"Yes, shouldn't you be resting after the...trouble in the great hall?" Quirrell shuddered as he thought back to it.

The twins grinned and said in unison that they were out looking for food as they had not eaten enough when the bear attack happened. Flitwick chuckled but Quirrell arched a brow. "Can't you have food sent up to the Common Room?" He asked.

"We've got fully…" Fred said.

"...functioning feet, Professor." George finished.

"Let the children be on their way, Quirrell. We're not here to keep them from their food." Flitwick smiled at the boys.

"Just as long as you two stay away from the third floor. Things are bad enough with that...that Templar here."

Flitwick looked affronted. "Ex-Templar amice, I will not have you badmouth a fellow professor in front of the students, besides we should be honoured that one of the Grail Worthy is actually here." Quirrell snorted but remained quiet, the two professors continued on their way talking animatedly. Harry didn't have to guess very hard as to what they were talking about. He felt happy that professor Flitwick had taken a stand for du Lac, the professor rose a few notches in his esteem.

The twins let out a collective breath and motioned for the invisible Harry and Hermione to follow them. Harry found that he liked this closeness to Hermione that the cloak brought. She smelled nice. Woody. Like a fresh book, which wasn't that strange he surmised seeing as what her favorite hobby was.

They finally arrived at a large stack of barrels not far from the kitchen's. Hermione placed her mouth near Harry's ear and whispered "Do you think they're pranking us? This doesn't seem like the entrance to a Common Room, there's not even a portrait!"

The twins turned to them and spoke in low voices. "When the door opens sneak in, we don't know how to open it so we'll be going for the next best thing."

Before Harry could ask what they meant they'd taken a bunch of magical fireworks out of their pockets and let the things crack and boom in front of the barrels. It took a few moments but then the barrels slid aside to reveal the face of a very miffed looking professor Sprout.

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!" She thundered and the twins eeped and started running, the professor in hot pursuit. She seemed to gain on them easily, but Harry and Hermione ran through the opened entrance before it could close. Inside they took a few moments to acclimatise to their surroundings.

"It's like a burrow." Hermione whispered, impressed and Harry could only agree.

"Where do you think Tonks is?" He asked lowly, but it was then that they heard a quiet sobbing come from somewhere ahead of them. Quickly heading in that direction they found a pink haired and 'normal' looking Tonks in the Hufflepuff Common Room. Now that they were here Harry found that he couldn't find the words that he wanted to say to Tonks. It had seemed so much easier when he had just been in the Gryffindor Common Room. But Hermione threw off the cloak and took a seat next to Tonks, throwing her arms around the older girl.

Tonks, surprised for a moment when she saw her two friends appear out of thin air, shied away from Hermione. "What, how?"

"It's alright Tonks," Hermione said, "we, that is...me and Harry, wanted to make sure you were alright." Hermione waved her friend over and Harry sheepishly approached them. He hid the cloak underneath his robes and said lowly "Wotcher Tonks, feeling any better?"

The pink haired Metamorphagus shook her head. "I couldn't contain myself Harry. Seeing him standing there, after all people like me have suffered over the centuries something inside of me snapped. I knew I was going to be on the losing end, Templars are trained to beat wizards and that freaky bloodcult seems made to weed out magical creatures. He was going to throw me against the ropes, easily. But he never tried to hit me back. And you know what the worst thing was?" She looked at Harry and Hermione who shook their heads.

"He said he was sorry. Like that fixes everything! When...when he threw his cloak around me, he looked me in the eye and said sorry. I wish I could have killed him."

"Tonks!" Hermione said, affronted.

"I'm sorry! But you have to realize, I was brought up learning about the evils of the Templars. Not like you Muggle born, who come into this world like clean slates. Or well…" Her eyes darted to Harry's scar, "mostly anyway."

"I thought the Templars were monsters, nine foot and broad like oaks. Faces like Snapes and always looking to murder the next wizard. To see him standing there, he's just a boy. He...was handsome. It's not fair!" Her hair turned an ugly shade of red as she shouted the last part. "Why can't bogeymen stay in my dreams?" She finished sadly.

"Well…" Harry began gently, "when you left he told Dumbledore that he was no longer a Templar." Tonks laughed through her tears. "That's a lie, I know enough about Templars to know that they would never just kick out someone who traces his line to the Grail Knights and besides, if they break their vows they lose their powers."

Hermione nodded. "I found that part strange as well, all the books I've read speak of Templars wasting away without their 'cause'." Harry looked at the ceiling and suddenly came to a realisation. "I can ask my uncle! According to professor du Lac," Tonks winced as he mentioned the Templar's ties to the school, "my uncle used to be part of the Templars, he never wasted away. Sure he's...fat. And not very strong, but he's not a corpse."

"Is asking your uncle such a smart idea?" Hermione countered, "You didn't exactly leave them on the best of terms." Harry winced, thinking back to his uncle's thundering voice calling him a coward and a traitor. But he squared his shoulders. "Uncle Vernon owes me, he never told me of my heritage, my parents or this world I'm a part of. I'm a fish in unfamiliar waters thanks to him. He'll tell me or I'll hex him into next week."

Hermione rose her hand to say something but Tonks beat her to it. "Wouldn't it be easier to ask du Lac yourself?" Harry shook his head. "You didn't see his face when he said he was no longer a Templar, that's a closed book if I ever saw one." Hermione nodded, agreeing.

Tonks rose from her seat near the quietly burning fireplace. "Thanks for coming to check up on me guys, I'm going to bed. I don't want to think about that...about professor du Lac any more today."

Hermione and Harry smiled and made to crawl together under the cloak, which made the pink haired with coo with mirth. "Oh you two look adorable! You make the cutest couple." Harry felt Hermione's face heat up against his own and imagined his own must not have been much better. Instead of answering he threw the cloak around the both of them and made for the exit. As they stepped outside they passed a grumbling professor Sprout, who seemed to have given the Weasley boys a run for their money.

Back in the Gryffindor Common Room Harry grabbed a quill and some ink and made ready to write a letter to his uncle. Hermione sat next to him, looking over his shoulder.

_Dear uncle Vernon Dursley,_

_How are you? I know this letter comes at a strange time, but I feel I need to do my part to bury the hatchet. I know you would have been happier to see me a Templar, but I never even knew there were any Templars or Wizards, you kept this world hidden from me. You even went so far as to go to one of the farthest corners of England to stay out of the reach of magic. _

_You did all that for aunt Petunia? It's just, why would you give all this up? All these chances to do some good. But I didn't start writing this letter to start another fight. I hope that in the future we can try to be cordial to each other. _

_I actually wrote to you with a question, do you remember that Templar that came to fetch me? Marco du Lac? Well he's here at Hogwarts, as a teacher! And he says he's no longer part of the Templars. It's strange, why would they send him to fetch me and then throw him aside. I also heard he's supposed to waste away when he's no longer a Templar. He seemed as stronng and healthy as the day I met him._

_I hope you're willing to look into this for me, I would be willing to do something in return of course. We should both work at mending fences._

_With regards,_

_Harry Potter._

Hermione had made him add that last part. Satisfied with what he had written Harry called for Hedwig and gave her the letter to deliver. "Be quick about it girl and there's a nice juicy mouse in it for you when you return." He spoke to the snowy colored bird with a smile.

He and Hermione made ready to head to bed. But before he went up the stairs to the boys dorm he heard Hermione cough. "Harry?"

He turned towards her and smiled. "Yes Hermione?"

"Thanks for including me today, it was...fun." She gave him a shy smile, showing her too large front teeth.

Harry merely grinned and said "That's what friends do." Before turning and heading to bed. As soon as he hit the bed and pulled the sheets over his body he fell asleep, so he never saw the dark look Ron cast him before turning and sleeping himself.

**A/N: Next time, lessons and letters!**


End file.
